Iran

Statement
By the Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran
At the Ninth Session of the General Assembly Open Working Group
On Sustainable Development Goals
(Monday, March 3, 2014)
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Mr. Co-chairs,
Let me also, first, join the others in thanking you for your efforts and the way you are handling the work of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Rest assured of the full and constructive engagement of my delegation throughout this process.
Co-chairs,
I would also like to align my delegation with the statement made by Bolivia, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and add a few points in my national capacity.
The efforts made in providing us with the Progress Report of the OWG and the Focus Areas are commendable. To my delegation, the Focus Areas text is a balanced one and quite useful as a basis for the new round of consultations.
Since, we are not gathered here to negotiate on this text, my delegation believes that considering certain points would enhance the content and structure of any future draft report of OWG to the GA, as following:
1. The points and principles raised in the cover letter of the Co-Chairs about the Focus Areas, such as national ownership and the different circumstances and responsibilities of countries, are very valid and important, and although, like in case of the former, they are not quantifiable, but we think they should be present and definitive in developing any goals and targets;

2. There is a tendency among some of us to see a “quantified balanced approach” with regards to three pillars of sustainable development, as if there should be the same numbers of goals and targets for each pillar; my delegation believes that it would be an ineffective attempt and we should look for integrating different elements of different pillars into one another, in a qualitative manner, than quantified; on this account, to my delegation, by decreasing the numbers of goals and incorporating the other pillars’ focus areas into the targets and indicators of each of the economic goals, it would provide us with more space to add more economic goals.

3. The other point is that, and I am probably repeating myself, since there are specialized frameworks for certain areas of our concentration, including climate change, UNFCCC, forests, to name a few, this OWG should either borrow the targets and indicators out of those processes or suffice it in a way not to encroach those frameworks. Needless to say that, if there is a point under discussion in any of those frameworks, it is impossible to be concluded here under the OWG;

4. My delegation also appreciates your effort for bringing the focus area 18 regarding the Means of Implementation, nevertheless, based on the lessons learnt from the MDGs and its main problem of silo-approach, it is of the view that we might have to work more for incorporating concrete means of implementation to each of the goals that we discuss;

5. Furthermore, my delegation encourages the delegations not to enter into a mode of bringing controversial languages into the text, languages which are known to all of us and proved to be unproductive in the work of the General Assembly’s different committees;

6. Finally, Mr. Co-Chairs, on a procedural note, my delegation believes that from next session, we will enter into a new phase of tangible consultations on a very unique text, on which any delegation is required to get instruction from its capital, like many others; and, since on this specific text, there are a lot of ministries and intra-agencies involved, it might not be that easy to work on a rolling text and to be as quick as some might expect. Therefore, my delegation supports the idea of having the evolving draft as an annotated rolling text, so that changes are clearly tracked on, and in a well anticipated period of time in advance of the next consultation, so that this would make getting instructions from capitals rather on time.


I thank you, Co-chairs.